Citation

Novins DK, Beals J, Roberts RE, Manson SM. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 1999; 29(4): 332-346.

Affiliation

National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver 80220, USA. douglas.novins@uch-sc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10636327

Abstract

Data from self-report surveys of 1,353 high school students representing three culturally distinct American Indian tribes were analyzed for tribal differences in factors associated with suicidal ideation. In the multivariate analysis, no single correlate of suicide ideation was common to all three tribes. The correlates of suicide ideation were consistent with each tribe's social structure, conceptualization of individual and gender roles, support systems, and conceptualization of death. These results underscore the heterogeneity of suicide ideation across three distinct American Indian tribes consistent with their cultural heterogeneity. Suicide prevention and screening programs may be difficult to adapt from one tribe to another.